This is Springfield disability lawyer Jason Krebs. In today’s video, the next video in our series, on things that can ruin your Missouri or Arkansas disability case. Today we wanted to talk about representing yourself at the hearing, or more correctly, not having a disabilty lawyer represent you at your disability hearing. Generally, this is a very bad idea.
The fact that you have a lawyer does not mean that the lawyer is a miracle worker. If you haven’t been going to the doctor, all that lawyer or all any lawyer can do, myself or anyone else, is argue the facts, the evidence, and present that evidence in the best light possible, and then argue the law. If you haven’t been going your physician or your doctors, there’s not much that any lawyer is going to be able to do.
It’s also important to talk to somebody locally or in your area where you know who they are as opposed to just. You can hire somebody off the internet and they make it really easy to type in your information, and you’ve got a advocate or an attorney or somebody representing you and it’s real simple. However, a lot of these outfits are selling your name and information to other lawyers or advocates that are not even lawyers. Basically you’re a “lead” or they have you as a client that they have no attorneys locally.
We get emails and calls all the time from outfits from various parts of the country that are wanting us to cover hearings from them, because they do not actually have any lawyers or anybody to actually handle your case. These are companies that just get your information, sign you up or you retain you as a client, and then hope for the best. It’s a numbers game for them. They don’t know anything about the local judges. They don’t know how a local judge conducts his or her hearing, and you’re at the mercy of whoever they can find at that point.
Some of the big firms are like this as well. You don’t know who’s handing your case, or the disability lawyers may not know who you are until the day of the hearing, or day before. They might be handling your file and they’re calling your name in the lobby at the hearing office. That’s typically not the best thing for you as far as getting your case approved. That’s not how my office operates.
We do offer a book to Missouri and Arkansas residents. You can get that at https://krebslawoffice.com or 417-883-5886 or 1-800-345-0535 and we’ll be glad to get that out to you. Thanks for watching, and best of luck.